The Roommate
by flylikeadcriss
Summary: Kurt's thrilled to finally be starting college in New York. His only problem is his roommate, who claims to be fine but seems really uncomfortable with the whole gay thing. And Kurt can only take so much before he snaps. AU, K  for cursing, college!Klaine


**So this is AU in that Kurt and Blaine don't know each other, are the same age, and are starting college at NYU at the same time. I also completely altered Wes's personality, just for fun.**

**This is the product of 4 hours straight writing in the middle of the night, because that's apparently the only time I can write, and my desire for more college!Klaine.**

**I don't own Glee.**

* * *

><p>Kurt eyed his new dorm room warily. He had been so excited about the idea of move-in day—meeting his roommate, exploring the campus, and finally starting his new life as a student at NYU. However, he had somehow managed to overlook one crucial issue: the room that he would be sharing with a still-stranger for the next school year was tiny, bland, and altogether decidedly non-Kurt. Decorating would be difficult, especially with his roommate probably expecting an equal say and unlikely to have quite the same fashionable taste as Kurt.<p>

He sighed. It would have to do, and was not nearly a big enough problem to bring him down from finally making it to New York. The thought made Kurt grin unconsciously.

"Kurt?" said a voice in the doorway. Kurt turned to see Finn, who was standing awkwardly just outside the room.

"Yes, Finn?" Kurt replied, only a little irritated about having his reverie interrupted. After all, Finn had come all the way to New York with Burt and Carole to move Kurt in, and had proved invaluable when it came to lifting Kurt's many boxes of clothes and various other belongings.

"So, I know Mom and But wanted to meet your roommate and all, but we really need to take off… They're coming up but I'm supposed to make sure you'll be all right and stuff."

Kurt smiled at his stepbrother's endearing awkwardness, and answered, "I'll be fine, Finn. I'm going to be great."

At that point, Burt and Carole appeared behind Finn and made their way past him into Kurt's room.

"So, Kurt," Burt said, obviously trying not to sound too emotional. "I guess this is it."

Kurt nodded, having no reservations about letting the fact that he was about to cry show on his face.

"I guess," he said.

Carole pulled him into a tight hug, her face awash with emotion as well.

"You need to call us," she said firmly. "All the time."

"I will," Kurt said. He couldn't help but feel an extra wave of sadness hit him when he realized just how much of a mother Carole had become to him. He'd never imagined that he'd have this—a whole family to say goodbye to. Kurt loved his dad, but having a mother and a brother to care about him too was almost too good to be true.

He pulled away from Carole and looked over her shoulder at Finn, who had an oddly contemplative look on his face.

Finn turned to their parents and said, "Do you guys mind if I, like, say bye to Kurt while you get the car or something? I just need to…" He trailed off, but Burt and Carole, looking vaguely surprised, nodded and turned to Kurt to give him one last parting hug and say goodbye to him one last time.

Kurt and Finn listened as their footsteps slowly faded away, and after a minute Finn turned to Kurt. Kurt raised his eyebrow questioningly, but the usually snarky expression was ruined by his tears.

"Dude," Finn looked at a loss for what to say. "It's going to be weird without you."

Kurt nodded in acknowledgement.

"And it's kind of going to suck, because I'll be staying behind and everyone's leaving, but especially you, because you totally cared, you know? You were always helping with my stuff, and you listened to me, and you didn't call me a whiny girl like some of the guys did when I had Rachel and Quinn stuff."

Kurt nodded again, his expression softening.

"And I wish that we had more time to be brothers before you had to leave. I know that that sounds totally selfish."

Kurt shrugged.

"But I'm so glad that you got out of Lima and you get to be here and do what you want, even if I'm still at home. You deserve that."

Finn glanced down as his phone started to buzz, indicating that Burt and Carole were waiting for him.

"So, yeah. I'm going to miss you."

Finn suddenly reached out and pulled Kurt forward for a tight hug. After a minute, he let go, and looked at a loss for words again.

Kurt finally spoke, responding, "I'm going to miss you too. I'm so glad that everything happened the way it did, even if it was awkward a lot, because I got a family out of it in the end. And you deserve to be happy too, Finn."

Finn nodded, smiling, and said, "Well… goodbye."

Kurt laughed slightly and gently pushed Finn out the door, saying, "You really have to go now, Dad and Carole are probably pretty annoyed. Bye, Finn."

Finn turned and walked away as Kurt shut his door, finally succumbing to tears.

* * *

><p>Kurt didn't know much about his roommate-to-be. They had exchanged a couple emails, and had established that neither of them had any horribly annoying habits, they were both relatively neat, and each of them had concluded that the other seemed tolerable enough to live with.<p>

Of course, there was the tiny detail that Kurt hadn't come out to his roommate yet. He was hoping it wouldn't be an issue, and didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but it seemed so awkward to put it in an email: _Yeah, I already own a minifridge that we can share. Oh, and I like boys, is that cool?_

It might be more awkward to do it in person, in retrospect. However, it was a bit late now and Kurt had no other choice than to just tell him when he arrived.

Speaking of which… the door handle turned, and Kurt jumped up just in time to see a curly-haired head poke its way into the room. The stranger's eyes met Kurt's, and widened slightly. Kurt coughed awkwardly and looked away as the door opened all the way to reveal what Kurt presumed to be his new roommate.

"Kurt?" the boy said tentatively.

Kurt nodded. This was really awkward. He wished his parents were still here, at least to ask the boy a ton of questions and fill the silence.

The boy ducked his head and continued speaking.

"I'm Blaine. Blaine Anderson."

Kurt smiled automatically; Blaine's nervousness was sort of endearing.

"I'm Kurt," Kurt said, somewhat unnecessarily. Blaine seemed to take Kurt's smile as a good sign and grinned.

"Cool," he said happily. "Is all of your stuff moved in?"

Kurt gestured to one of the small closets, where he had hung the depressingly small amount of clothes he had been allowed to bring up with care.

"I hope you don't mind, I had to get my clothes out of the boxes as soon as possible. But you can pick a bed," he offered. Blaine glanced around the room and headed for the bed by the window, looking inquiringly at Kurt, who nodded that he could have it. Blaine dropped the box he had been carrying on it, looking relieved to have gotten rid of it.

"Are your parents coming up with more boxes?" Kurt asked, just a little bit nervous about meeting them.

Blaine winced slightly, and Kurt knew he had hit a sore spot.

"A couple of my friends are helping me; they're probably almost here."

He looked like he desperately wanted Kurt to not question him further on this particular issue, so Kurt let the subject drop.

A knock on their door broke the silence, and Blaine opened it to reveal two boys, both of whom were carrying large boxes.

"These boxes weigh a goddamn ton, Blaine," one of them grunted, slightly annoyed.

"Wes, restrain your mouth for just a little while," the other boy said dryly. "You're going to scare his roommate."

The Asian boy—Wes, presumably, turned to see Kurt staring and jumped violently.

"Damn it, David, way to tell me people were here!" Wes still looked slightly shaken up by Kurt's sudden appearance. "Hi," Wes continued, "I'm Wes. That's David. Sorry about that. I tend to freely use offensive language in stressful situations."

Blaine snorted and turned to Kurt also.

"By that," he explained, "He means that he cusses all the time with very little restraint."

Kurt laughed.

"Kurt," he said, deciding that these boys weren't so bad.

"I'm David," called David, trying to make his way to Blaine's bed to dump the box he was carrying, which was apparently quite heavy. His grip suddenly slipped, but Kurt dashed forward quickly enough to catch the corner of the box to keep it from falling and take it from David, carrying it to Blaine's bed.

"Thanks," David said. "Blaine has a lot of junk." He ignored Blaine's glare and turned to Wes. "How much more is there?" he asked.

Wes threw a playful glare at Blaine and replied, "A hell of a lot? It's going to take a while to get it all."

"I could help," Kurt said cautiously. "If you want, I mean."

Blaine grinned at him again.

"That," he replied, "would be totally awesome."

* * *

><p>It only took an hour or so of carrying and unpacking boxes with Blaine and his friends for Kurt to decide that he genuinely liked all three of them, and that Blaine was going to be a pretty great roommate. He was just goofy enough to be entertaining and fun without being annoying, and he apparently appreciated Kurt's snarky, sarcastic jokes. He agreed with Kurt that the dorm room wall paint was pretty gross looking, and that they should cover it with enough stuff as possible. They even made a pact that Kurt would not mock Blaine for his large collection of Katy Perry and P!nk posters, as long as Blaine didn't tease Kurt for the fact that he owned a shocking number of posters from various Broadway musicals.<p>

* * *

><p>By the time Wes and David had to leave, they were all comfortably talking like friends. Kurt was exhausted and ready to rest by that point, but was also slightly anxious about them leaving. He knew that he had no excuse not to come out to Blaine once they were alone.<p>

They did leave, however, and Kurt was lost in thought, perched on the edge of his bed, when Blaine flopped down on his own bed.

"Ugh," he groaned. "I'm so tired. But we have that orientation thing tonight, right?"

Kurt wrinkled his nose—he, too, was definitely not looking forward to the various presentations they were sure to be subjected to that night—and nodded.

"Blaine?" Kurt said slowly.

"Mm-hmm?" Blaine hummed in response.

"I don't want to bug you, or make you feel uncomfortable or anything…" Kurt's tone apparently concerned Blaine enough to make him prop himself up on one elbow and stare at Kurt expectantly.

"I'm gay," Kurt said quietly, looking at the floor. "I'm really sorry if that makes it awkward and stuff. I know it's weird to share a room with me, it was kind of awful when I had to share with my stepbrother, but I'll try to be quiet about it if you want."

"Kurt," Blaine said, his tone soft. Kurt looked up at him, then back down at the floor. "It's- it's fine. Really. I don't mind sharing with you. I'm sorry about your stepbrother."

Kurt shrugged, daring to look at Blaine again.

"We're fine now. It's complicated; he probably had a right to feel uncomfortable." He paused. "Thank you, though."

Blaine nodded, but he was staring at the ceiling now, looking completely lost in his thoughts. Finally, he flipped over and closed his eyes.

"I'm exhausted," he said, yawning. "Do you think you could wake me up for the presentation thing?"

"Yeah, sure," Kurt said quietly.

Blaine's breathing evened out slowly, leaving Kurt alone to think. It hadn't been too bad. Blaine hadn't yelled at him or gone begging for a room transfer. It probably was the best that Kurt could have hoped for.

* * *

><p>No matter how completely normal Blaine acted around Kurt most of the time, Kurt couldn't shake the feeling that he really was bothering Blaine. He also couldn't shake the feeling that it was because of his preference, as much as he hated to think it. He couldn't help but think that Blaine really was at least slightly homophobic.<p>

"It's really weird," he told Rachel as he held his cell phone in place with one hand and absentmindedly flipped through the last issue of Vogue with the other. "I think that he really likes me otherwise. We hang out a lot. He's always buying me coffee. It's just sometimes."

_"What do you mean?"_ Rachel replied, sounding vaguely annoyed at this Blaine person who she had yet to meet but didn't sound particularly likeable if Kurt was correct.

"It's like, he gets really weird whenever I change in the room, even if it's just my shirt. And he'll sit on the couch and talk with me and everything, but he's always scooting farther away every few minutes. I kind of wish he'd just tell me that it freaks him out."

_"I could come over and talk to him,"_ said Rachel contemplatively. _"I have been known to be very persuasive, especially when I make sugar cookies."_

"No," Kurt said firmly. "I seriously doubt that would help. Anyways… how's NYADA?"

Rachel seemed to thoroughly welcome this opportunity to talk at length about everything from the vegan options available on campus to the "horrible, untalented, stuck up attention whore" in one of her classes. Kurt half-listened as he read his magazine, trying not to feel bitter about Rachel being there while he was here. He was happy here, Kurt reminded himself. He actually like the music program here, had made several friends of reasonable closeness, and had even met a few other gay students, a couple of whom had actually flirted with him. He was not in Ohio anymore, that was for sure.

* * *

><p>One night after they both had huge tests, Kurt and Blaine decided to celebrate by having a movie night. Blaine bought popcorn, even taking care to get the kind without butter because he knew Kurt couldn't stand the other kind, and Kurt rented several movies.<p>

It was nice, Kurt thought as he entered the room to see Blaine setting up his laptop on his bed, hanging out with Blaine was nice. When he wasn't being weird, he was pretty awesome and fun and sweet. Kurt just wished he could get over his homo-wary thing.

Kurt gratefully accepted his bag of popcorn and waited for Blaine to select one of the movies. After a minute, Blaine climbed up on the bed to lie on his stomach and face his computer. He hesitated before beckoning Kurt to do the same.

Kurt did, but was careful to keep as much distance between them as possible by settling just next to the edge of the bed. Blaine looked over at him, looking just a little bit guilty, before sliding When Harry Met Sally into his computer's disk drive. Apparently unconsciously, he edged just a little farther away from Kurt. Kurt grimaced slightly, and tried to focus on the movie and not crying.

* * *

><p>Blaine would often invite Kurt along when he went to hang out with Wes and David, who shared an apartment that was fairly close to campus. The strange thing, though, was that Wes and David seemed to have absolutely no problem with Kurt being gay. By this point in the semester, Kurt had become good friends with both of them, and neither seemed to have any reservations at all around him. During one of their horror movie nights, David had decided that Kurt was the best candidate to protect him from Jigsaw through the television (perhaps because Kurt didn't appear scared at all, just disgusted) and clutched on to him and buried his face into Kurt's shoulder during several particularly gruesome parts.<p>

Wes also had no apparent issues with Kurt. Strangely, the only indication he ever gave of being aware of Kurt's sexuality was when he looked concerned for Blaine. Their other two friends always seemed to be on alert for something bad to happen whenever Kurt got too close to Blaine. Kurt just couldn't figure out why they were so concerned about Blaine being uncomfortable when neither of them ever was uncomfortable themselves.

* * *

><p>Besides the roommate problems, Kurt was having a great time being at NYU, and fitting in nicely. He loved his classes, loved the friends he had made, and loved being able to see Rachel without having to compete for solos.<p>

By November, Kurt officially had a crush. Not on Blaine, no matter what his roommate might think. On an amazingly sweet boy in his required Latin class, who patiently helped Kurt through his apparent inability to learn another language. After a couple weeks of flirting during class, the boy—Aaron—finally asked Kurt out. They made plans for Aaron to pick Kurt up from his room at seven, and then go see the newest romantic comedy that had just gotten into theaters.

Kurt was excited, but freaking out just a little bit. He had never really had a boyfriend. During high school, he kept waiting, kept hoping that a brave, open boy would come and sweep him off his feet, but it never happened. This really was his first chance, and he was feeling very apprehensive, as he got ready.

Blaine glanced up at him for about the tenth time from where he was sitting on his bed and typing furiously on his laptop.

"What's going on?" he finally asked, gesturing to Kurt. "You're all dressed up."

Kurt hesitated. Maybe it wasn't a very good idea to talk about it. Then again, it wasn't very fair for him to have to hide the fact that he had met somebody, just for Blaine's benefit. And Blaine had asked him, after all.

"I have a date," he said cautiously. Blaine stiffened slightly.

"Oh," he said, then went back to typing.

It was 6:55 when a knock came on their door.

"I'll be going now, then," Kurt said. He paused, then, thinking that there really wasn't a way for the situation to be more awkward so he might as well, asked tentatively, "Do I look okay?"

Blaine lifted his eyes to sweep over Kurt's outfit, then to lock eyes with Kurt.

"You look great," he said quietly.

Kurt smiled and opened to door to see Aaron smiling at him. He glanced back just once to see Blaine with a strange look of intense annoyance on his face as he looked at Aaron, then closed the door and walked away.

* * *

><p><em>"So, how's your friend? Eric?"<em> Finn asked, sounding far away because he was on speakerphone with Burt and Carole to talk to Kurt. _"Or is he, like, your boyfriend now?"_

Kurt shrugged, even though his family couldn't see him, and carefully held the phone between his shoulder and his ear as he gently hung his clean clothes up in his closet.

"I don't really know," he answered honestly. "We're still going on dates and everything, though. But he's doing very well, thank you for asking."

_"How's Blaine?"_ asked Burt.

Kurt paused before replying, "He's great too."

Of course, Kurt hadn't said a word to his family about his issues with Blaine, only saying, truthfully, that they were good friends. Only Rachel really knew, and she had been sworn to secrecy. He wasn't sure exactly how pissed Burt and Finn would get at his roommate, or how they would treat him when they saw him, and he definitely didn't want to find out.

* * *

><p>He and Blaine were honestly good friends, too. Kurt felt like he could talk to him about pretty much anything except guys or romance in general.<p>

For instance, he knew all about Blaine's issues with his parents—they were never around, they traveled all the time and came to New York every now and then but never really bothered to see Blaine, and disapproved of most of his choices.

"They think that music education is a waste of time," he had told Kurt, on one of those nights when they just laid on their respective beds in the dark, talking. "I mean, maybe they're right that I'll never get a job and be poor for the rest of my life, but that doesn't mean it's a waste of time, does it?" he asked desperately, as if begging Kurt for reassurance.

"No," Kurt had replied. "No, it would be a waste of time for you to spend your life doing something you didn't want to do. It would be a waste of a life. And you deserve to be happy," he finished, repeating the words that Finn had said to him so long ago.

"You're my best friend," Blaine blurted out suddenly. "I know Wes and David really well and they're great, but you… you're just always there. And you get it."

"I guess I do," Kurt replied. After a moment, he continued, "You're my best friend too."

Blaine was silent.

"Blaine?" Kurt said. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Blaine replied, though he sounded oddly nervous. "Ask me anything."

Kurt shook his head, even though Blaine couldn't see him.

"Never mind," he said, so softly that Blaine barely heard him.

* * *

><p>It was only about a month after Kurt and Aaron had started dating that Aaron had broken it off.<p>

"You're really nice, Kurt," he had said. "It's more of an issue with me."

Kurt had snorted at how completely cliché that line was, then stalked out of the coffee shop they had been sitting in and back to his room, ignoring Aaron's called apologies.

He barely made it to his bed before he started crying.

* * *

><p>That was how Blaine found him a half hour later when he got back from the library.<p>

He automatically dropped his bag on the ground and walked quickly to Kurt.

"Kurt," he asked, "Kurt, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Kurt shook his head, and then lifted it.

"I mean," he gasped between his tears. "I'm okay. But I don't want to talk about it. You don't want to talk about it."

Blaine pulled himself up on the bed next to Kurt.

"What do you mean?" he asked. When Kurt didn't answer, he put an arm around Kurt and pulled him to his chest, letting Kurt soak his shirt with tears. After a minute, when Kurt finally stopped crying, Blaine lifted Kurt's head up with one hand so he would look at him.

"Aaron dumped me. But you probably don't want to hear about it. It's fine."

Blaine ignored the second sentence, because the first one was causing his insides to boil with emotion.

"Kurt," he said tightly. "Kurt, he's an asshole. I don't even know why he broke up with you, but I know he was stupid to do it. Because you're pretty much the best person I know. And I don't think anybody is really good enough to deserve you. He was so lucky, and he threw it away."

Kurt was staring at him in utter disbelief.

"Y-you really think so?" he asked Blaine, still crying just a little.

"Yeah," Blaine said, hugging Kurt tighter. "I do."

Then, the spell was broken, as Blaine seemed to realize what he was doing and began carefully disentangling them. When they were no longer touching, Blaine backed away and sat in his desk chair, far from Kurt.

"I really do."

* * *

><p>The week before winter break found both Kurt and Blaine to be in states of extreme stress. Both of them had final exams, of course, but Blaine had another problem.<p>

"My parents are coming," he said frantically to Kurt as he packed, the night before they all headed home. "They're coming here. I don't even know why. But they wanted to come get me for winter break."

"Is that bad, though?" asked Kurt. "Isn't it good if they're paying more attention?"

Blaine shook his head.

"It's never a good thing when we spend time together. It never ends well. Not since-" Blaine paused then, and fell silent.

"Since when?" Kurt asked, genuinely curious.

"Not since my freshman year of high school. That's when… well, a lot of stuff happened that year. It kind of ruined everything."

"I'm sorry," Kurt said. "So do I get to meet them, or is that a bad idea?"

Blaine's eyes widened and he shook his head violently. He seemed to be having a mild panic attack, Kurt noted.

"That…" Blaine said, "Would be a really bad idea."

"Why?" Kurt asked.

"It just is. It's worse when they meet my friends. They never approve of them, they're always really hostile-"

"Is that it, then?" Kurt asked.

"What?" Blaine asked in return, digging through his closet to find something.

"You don't want me to meet your parents because they won't like me. Because I'm gay?"

Blaine flinched, and he quickly said, "No, that's not it. It's that they'll be horrible to you."

"Because I'm gay," Kurt repeated.

After a tense silence, Blaine said, "Maybe."

"You don't want your parents to know that you have a friend who's gay? Or a roommate who's gay, that's even worse, isn't it?"

Blaine flinched at Kurt's harsh tone, and said pleadingly, "No, Kurt, it's-"

But Kurt wasn't stopping anytime soon. Several month's worth of frustration were pouring out at once and he couldn't stop.

"I'm not stupid, Blaine. Or blind. I know that you've got issues with it, and obviously your parents do, the least you can do is actually admit to it!"

Blaine looked close to tears.

"Kurt, you know I don't have a problem with you-"

"Really? Because I know that you can't be within a foot of me, ever. I know that it freaked you out when I went on dates with boys. I know that you think I'm staring at you every time you change your stupid shirt!" Kurt yelled.

"You don't know!" Blaine finally yelled back. "You have no idea!"

"Then what the hell is your problem?" Kurt retorted loudly.

"For God's sake, Kurt, _I'm_ gay!" Blaine exploded.

Kurt fell completely silent. Blaine slid to the floor and buried his face in his hands.

"W-what?" Kurt stuttered out.

Blaine didn't respond or look up.

Kurt fell to the floor and crawled over to sit by Blaine. He gently placed a hand on Blaine's arm, which was shaking along with the rest of his body as Blaine cried.

"Blaine," Kurt tried again. "What's going on?"

Blaine lifted his head from his hands and rubbed at his eyes harshly with his palms.

"I couldn't-" Blaine stopped, and then continued. "I couldn't let this happen."

"What?" Kurt asked gently.

"Knowing I'm gay is bad enough for them—for my parents. If I actually did anything about it... it would end really badly. I was going to just go to school here and get out of college so I could be on my own, and not depend on my parents for tuition. And then I was going to, I don't know, actually date and like guys and maybe fall in love."

Kurt stayed silent, but his expression urged Blaine to continue.

"And then, then I come here, and I go into my dorm room, and there's this gorgeous boy there. And he's my roommate. And then I talk to him and I realize that he's amazing and beautiful and hilarious and kind of perfect. But that's okay, because there's no point to it anyway. He's straight, I don't have to worry about really liking him."

Kurt made an odd half-laughing noise and said, "Did you honestly think for a minute that I was straight?"

Blaine smiled ever so slightly.

"I really hoped you were. Because when you told me that you weren't, and then I knew that I had absolutely no chance of not falling in love with you. Even when I didn't touch you, or look at you, and I watched you go out with other guys. I couldn't stop it. And now," Blaine gave a short bark of laughter. "Now I'm totally screwed, aren't I? And my parents are coming here. And they'll know. What am I supposed to do? I hate that I depend on them, but I can't help that either, not for a while."

"Blaine," Kurt whispered. Blaine looked up to see Kurt's face inches from his.

"I'm sorry," Blaine said just as quietly.

"No, I'm sorry," replied Kurt. "I was just so happy to have such a great friend, and I wanted to fix this one stupid problem that was making it hard. But I shouldn't have pushed so hard."

He pulled back and sat next to Blaine against the dresser.

"When are your parents coming?" he asked Blaine.

"Tomorrow, I think their flight comes in at like noon." He replied dejectedly.

"Just go with them, okay? I won't get mad, and you don't have to bring them back here. And I'll see you after winter break and we'll talk some more." Kurt held Blaine's hand gently as he said this, but Blaine clutched to Kurt's hand like it was a lifeline.

Blaine sighed, and sounded defeated as he agreed reluctantly. Kurt pulled him up off of the floor.

"I'll see you in January. It'll be okay," Kurt said, despite the fact that his voice was breaking and his eyes were watering.

* * *

><p>Kurt flew back to Ohio with Rachel the next morning. He had woken up early enough that Blaine was still asleep when he left, and he was completely exhausted by the time he sank down into his seat on the airplane.<p>

He still spent the plane ride filling Rachel in completely about the situation with Blaine and his parents, and although she appreciated the drama of it all, she was sympathetic.

"I'm sorry, Kurt," she said consolingly. "And on top of everything, he has the challenge of unrequited love to deal with!"

"Wait, what?" Kurt asked, looking up at her from the window, which he had been staring out of.

"Well it's bad enough when you love someone who doesn't love you back," she explained, "but in combination with all of his other issues here? That's just horrible for him, to know that you don't love him."

"Wait," Kurt said, holding up his hand. "I don't love him back?"

"Kurt," Rachel said patiently, "If you do, you've been awfully quiet about it. Do you?"

Kurt's eyes widened as he considered the possibility.

"I thought he was straight for so long," he said slowly. "I definitely wasn't even going to think about liking him. I know not to do that. But he's my best friend—besides you; stop squawking at me—and I love him, but how do I know if I'm in love with him?"

"I don't know, honestly. But I think," Rachel said, after she recovered from the momentary insult, "that you should think about it for a while, and try to figure it out before school starts again. You owe him that much."

* * *

><p>Kurt had forgotten, while he was gone, just how much he loved Ohio. Well, not Ohio per se, because he kind of hated Ohio. He had forgotten how much he loved his house, and the Lima Bean, and the various friends he was getting to see, and his family.<p>

Just glancing around the living room one evening a week before Christmas was giving him to corniest feeling of warm fuzzies. Rachel was over, and was supervising the decorating of the tree (they had made Finn do all the actual work, because really, who else could get the star on without even standing on his toes?) while Burt made a fire and Carole passed out hot chocolate. Kurt couldn't help but smile. The scene was so incredibly cliché, but he was so happy to be in it.

Later, Rachel had curled up onto the recliner and fallen asleep, and their parents had gone to bed. Finn and Kurt were cleaning up the living room in a comfortable silence when Kurt spoke.

"Finn?" he asked, then continued when he saw Finn looking up at him. "What would you do if somebody liked you, and you liked them back, but you couldn't be together?"

Finn paused in his clearing of the mugs from the coffee table.

"Well, why can't we be together?" he asked.

"Because of something totally out of your control. Like their parents don't want you to."

Finn looked contemplative for a minute before he replied.

"If Rachel's dads didn't like me, it would suck," he said. "But I can't stop loving her just because they want me to, you know? So I don't think I would be able to not be with her."

"What if…" Kurt realized that this discussion was getting way to detailed to still be hypothetical, but continued anyway. "What if Rachel didn't want to be with you, because of her dads?"

"That would suck too," Finn said. "But I think that if she loved me like she loves me right now, she'd come around, and we'd figure something out."

Kurt's brow furrowed, and then he sighed and smiled at Finn.

"Thanks," he said, hugging Finn momentarily before carrying the trash bag he was holding into the kitchen. "You should probably take Rachel home now. So her dads don't dislike you for real."

Finn laughed but walked over to Rachel to gently wake her.

* * *

><p>When Kurt arrived back at his dorm after flying back from Ohio, he was once again wiped out, but he was still tense as he turned the doorknob.<p>

He held his breath but wasn't sure if was hoping Blaine was or wasn't there. Either way, when he opened the door, Blaine was curled up on his own bed, fast asleep. He just looked so oddly vulnerable like that that Kurt felt an overwhelming need to protect him, from the world, from his parents, whatever.

Kurt made his way slowly and quietly over to Blaine's bed. Once he reached it, he touched Blaine's face lightly with one hand, then moved it to gently stroke at his hair.

"Blaine," he whispered. Blaine stirred and his eyes blinked open.

"Kurt?" he answered hoarsely before clearing his throat and trying again. "Kurt," he said.

"Yeah," Kurt replied. "I'm here. Are you okay?"

Blaine sat up and chuckled.

"I guess," he said. "Winter break sucked. But that was to be expected. I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," Kurt said. "Blaine?" he said again after a moment's hesitation."

"Yeah?" Blaine asked, yawning.

"You know all those things you told me? Before I left?"

"Yeah," Blaine said again, sounding a bit unsure.

Kurt looked down at his hands and asked, "Did you mean all that? Is all of that true?"

Blaine nodded, meeting Kurt's eyes with an even gaze.

Kurt hesitated again, and then plowed on.

"I want to tell you something," he said, reaching for Blaine's hands and gently holding them with both of his own. "But I don't want to make things worse."

Blaine considered before answering, "Tell me. I want to know what you're thinking. I don't care if it makes things worse."

Kurt sighed, leaned his head against Blaine's, closed his eyes, and whispered, "I love you. So much."

He went to pull away, but failed when Blaine's hands quickly came up to stop him from moving.

"I love you," Blaine answered before pulling Kurt towards him and pressing their lips together. It was slow, and sweet, but somehow so intense that Kurt kind of wanted to cry just from the feeling of it.

"I love you," Kurt whispered again after they separated.

They stayed that way, just holding hands, for just a minute before Kurt spoke.

"Isn't this a really bad idea, though?" he asked reluctantly. "With everything you said… and we're roommates and everything…"

Blaine pulled him in close again to hug him, pressing his face into Kurt's neck.

"I don't care," he mumbled from right next to Kurt's ear. "I decided that, while I was gone. I don't care about any of it and if I have any chance at all of being with you, I want to take it. If you want to."

Kurt did cry, just a little, then, and replied, "I want it too, Blaine. I do, I love you so much."

Blaine kissed him again, quickly, and wiped away his tears.

"Please don't cry," he begged.

Kurt laughed, and said, "Happy tears, Blaine. Don't worry."

Blaine guided Kurt up to sit next to him on the bed and continued to hold him in his arms. He kissed the top of Kurt's head.

"It'll be okay," he reassured Kurt. "I promise. We'll be okay."

* * *

><p><strong>So, I never really got it when authors said in their notes that reviews made them really happy. But now that I'm writing, reviews totally make my day, if you want to leave me one. Either way, I hope you liked it.<strong>


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